Why Was Your Tinder Age Verification Rejected?

Tinder gives three reasons. The document was not an accepted ID, which means anything other than a driver's license or a passport. The ID showed you were under 18. Or the ID did not meet Tinder's standards, because it was damaged, partly covered or unclear. If you are sure you sent a valid ID and it was turned down in error, Tinder says to contact its team.

Tinder accepts two forms of ID for age verification: a driver's license and a passport. Anything else counts as an invalid ID.

That catches more men than you would think, because the documents it refuses look official. Tinder names student ID cards, temporary driver's licenses, resident cards and pension books as common submissions it does not accept. The paper license you carry while the real one is in the mail is the classic case.

The fix is simple. Submit again with a full driver's license or your passport.

Tinder's minimum age is 18. If the date of birth on your ID shows you are younger, the check is rejected. Tinder notifies you when you log in, and the account is locked for the time shown on the login screen.

There is no workaround here, and you should not look for one. The app is not for you yet.

For an adult man holding a real license, this is the likely one, and it is the easiest to fix. The document was fine. The picture of it was not.

Tinder lists three problems under this heading:

• Damaged. A license that is cracked, peeling or worn smooth where the photo or the date sits.
• Covered up. A thumb over a corner, a sticker, a card sleeve, or a reflection sitting across the text.
• Unclear. Blur, bad light, a steep angle, or a picture taken from so far away the details are unreadable.

Before you resubmit, lay the ID flat on a plain, dark surface. Shoot it straight on in even light, tilted away from glare. Keep your fingers off the edges. Then zoom in and read every line yourself. If your license is badly worn, use your passport instead.

Sometimes a clear, valid license still comes back rejected. Tinder's advice for that case is to contact its team.

Do that rather than uploading the same document over and over. Say which ID you sent and that you believe it was valid. A short, specific note gets a better answer than repeated attempts that look identical to the first one.

If you do end up writing to Tinder, a little record-keeping makes the conversation much shorter.

Before you send anything, jot down three things. Which document you submitted, a license or a passport. Roughly when you submitted it. And exactly what the app showed you when it came back rejected. Take a screenshot of that screen if you can.

That turns your message from "it did not work" into something a support agent can actually check. It also stops you from guessing, a week later, which of three attempts used which document.

When a check fails, some men are tempted to try a friend's or a brother's license. Do not.

It breaks the rules you agreed to when you signed up, and it puts someone else's name and birthday behind your account. If you are over 18, your own license or passport will get you through. If you are not, the lockout is the answer.

Where Tinder requires the check before you can chat, every day the rejection sits unfixed is a day your matches go unanswered. That costs more than it seems. The woman who matched with you on Sunday is far less curious about you by Friday.

So fix it tonight. Then go back to the matches you care about most first. Keep your opener short and about her, a question about something in her pictures, not a paragraph about your ID troubles. "Is that you on the surfboard, or did you borrow the photo from a friend?" beats three lines of explaining where you have been. Once she is clearly enjoying the conversation, suggest a specific place and day.

A verified account only gets you to the starting line. The first message, and how quickly you turn a good chat into a plan, is what gets you the date.